'Best Bus Stop Ever' (Video)

The faux-hidden-camera ad below purports to show the "best bus stop ever", with dog sleds and circus performers, and while it's an entertaining ad, it does raise the valid question about how public transportation is being marketed (if at all). Reader Elijah J. asks: "It's pretty incredible advertising but it got me thinking: why in the world don't we have this kind of fun promotion for public transit?"

Indeed, if advertising didn't work, car makers wouldn't be spending billions on it. They might not know exactly what works (there's the old cliché that in ads, you are wasting half your money, but you don't know which half), but it certainly gets people interested. So how is public transportation supposed to compete and grow if very few resources are invested in reaching potential "customers"?

Of course, public transit isn't rolling in cash and money is probably better spent improving service and coverage, but I feel like it's still a question worth asking. What if just a little PR made a difference? In a perfect world, it shouldn't; everybody should be aware of public transit and make the best choice based purely on rational factors. But in this world, it turns out that people don't always work that way. Food for thought.